Opinion of the European Central Bank of 17 December 2019 on payment services and payment systems (CON/2019/45)
Date: 2019-12-17
Institutions: European Central Bank
Subjects: Bulgaria, bank charges, financial institution, intra-EU payment, national law, payment system, provision of services, shareholding

EN 

ECB-PUBLIC 

OPINION OF THE EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK 

of 17 December 2019 

on payment services and payment systems 

(CON/2019/45) 

Introduction and legal basis 

On 11 November 2019 the European Central Bank (ECB) received a request from the Bulgarian Minister 

for Finance for an opinion on a draft law amending the Law on payment services and payment systems 
and other laws (hereinafter the ‘draft law’)1. 

The ECB’s competence to deliver an opinion is based on Articles 127(4) and 282(5) of the Treaty on the 
Functioning of the European Union and the fifth indent of Article 2(1) of Council Decision 98/415/EC2, as 

the  draft  law  relates  to  payment  and  settlement  systems.  In  accordance  with  the  first  sentence  of 

Article 17.5 of the Rules of Procedure of the European Central Bank, the Governing Council has adopted 

this opinion. 

1. 

Purpose of the draft law 

1.1  The  consulting  authority  explains  that  the  draft  law  aims  to  transpose  into  national  law  the 
Corrigendum to Directive (EU) 2015/2366 of the European Parliament and of the Council3, and to 

implement  certain  measures  of  other  Union  legal  acts  adopted  in  connection  to  Directive  (EU) 
2015/2366, notably Regulation (EU) 2019/518 of the European Parliament and of the Council4. 

1.2  According  to  the  consulting  authority,  the  draft  law  also  includes  measures  to  extend  and 

strengthen the supervision of payment services and payment systems. 

1.3  Thus, the draft law5 provides that any person acquiring a minimum of three percent of the shares of 

or voting rights in a payment institution or an electronic money institution authorised by Българска 

народна  банка  (BNB,  Bulgarian  National  Bank)  shall  notify  BNB  within  seven  days  thereof  and 

submit the required information. In the event of an incomplete submission of information, or if BNB 

considers the influence exercised by a shareholder is likely to be detrimental to the soundness and 

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Закон  за изменение и допълнение на Закона за платежните услуги и платежните системи 
Council  Decision  98/415/EC  of  29 June  1998  on  the  consultation  of  the  European  Central  Bank  by  national 
authorities regarding draft legislative provisions (OJ L 189, 3.7.1998, p. 42). 
Directive (EU) 2015/2366 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 November 2015 on payment services 
in  the  internal  market,  amending  Directives  2002/65/EC,  2009/110/EC  and  2013/36/EU  and  Regulation  (EU) 
No 1093/2010, and repealing Directive 2007/64/EC (OJ L 337, 23.12.2015, p. 35). 

Regulation  (EU)  2019/518  of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the  Council  of  19  March  2019  amending 
Regulation (EC)  No  924/2009  as  regards  certain  charges  on  cross-border  payments  in  the  Union  and  currency 
conversion charges (OJ L 91, 29.3.2019, p. 36). 

Proposed new Articles 14a and 44a of the Law on payment services and payment systems. 

 
 
 
 
                                                 
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security of that institution or the payment services provided by it, BNB is empowered to temporarily 

suspend the voting rights of that person and/or to order them to divest those shares within 30 days. 

1.4  The draft law6 further provides that payment service providers must charge payment service users 

equal  fees  for  cross-border  payments  in  euro  within  the  Union  and  for  payments  in  Bulgarian  lev 

within  Bulgaria  which  are  of  equal  value  and  have  identical  characteristics  in  terms  of  initiating, 

executing and settling the payment. 

1.5  The draft law7 provides that (i) the clearing and settlement of payment transactions in Bulgarian lev 

related  to  card  payments  shall  take  place  in  settlement  finality  systems  that  process  card-based 

payment transactions and (ii) the net settlement of the same payment transactions shall take place 

in  the  real-time  gross  settlement  system  (RTGS)  operated  by  BNB  (RINGS)  when  both  of  the 

following  conditions  are  met:  (a)  the  payment  card  issuers  are  payment  services  providers 

authorised  by  BNB  or  are  branches  of  payment  services  providers  within  the  territory  of  Bulgaria 

and (b) the point of sale or the automated teller machine (ATM) is within the territory of Bulgaria. 

1.6  The  draft  law  also  provides  for  a  number  of  other  miscellaneous  amendments, including  periodic 

reporting by  payment service providers that benefit from a licence exemption; more detailed rules 

regarding  the  exemptions  from  strong  customer  authentication,  as  laid  down  in  Commission 
Delegated Regulation (EU) 2018/3898; and  an extended statute of limitations for the investigation 

of  breaches  of  the  Law  on  payment  services  and  payment  systems  and  increased  administrative 

penalties for such breaches. 

2. 

Specific observations 

2.1  The ECB notes that when the two conditions mentioned in paragraph 1.5 are fulfilled, the clearing 

and  settlement  of  such  payment  transactions  will  always  be  done  by  an  operator  of  a  settlement 

finality  system  with  access  to  RINGS.  The  ECB  understands  that  this  restriction  regarding  card-

based payment transactions in Bulgarian lev is aimed at ensuring that such retail payments, which 

are deemed to be closely linked to the territory of Bulgaria, are cleared and settled in central bank 

money  through  RINGS.  This  restriction  should  be  considered  in  the  light  of  the  principle  of  open 
and  non-discriminatory  access  to  payment  systems,  as  enshrined  in  Union  legislation9  and  in 
international standards10. In this regard the ECB understands that the restriction would not hamper 

cross-border acquiring of  card-based payment transactions denominated  in  Bulgarian  lev. To this 

end  and  for  the  purpose  of  cross-border  acquiring  of  card-based  payment  transactions,  the 

participation of payment service providers  that (a) are authorised  in other Member States and (b) 

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Proposed revised Article 68(6) of the Law on payment services and payment systems. 

Proposed new Article 148a of the Law on payment services and payment systems. 
Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2018/389 of 27 November 2017 supplementing Directive (EU) 2015/2366 of 
the  European  Parliament  and  of  the  Council  with  regard  to  regulatory  technical  standards  for  strong  customer 
authentication and common and secure open standards of communication (OJ L 69, 13.3.2018, p. 23). 

See, for example, Article 35 of Directive (EU) 2015/2366 and Article 16 of Regulation of the European Central Bank 
(EU)  No  795/2014  of  3  July  2014  on  oversight  requirements  for  systemically  important  payment  systems 
(ECB/2014/28) (OJ L 217, 23.7.2014, p. 16). 
See Principles for Financial Market Infrastructures (PFMIs) available at https://www.bis.org/cpmi/info_pfmi.htm. The 
PFMIs were transposed in Bulgarian law by Article 141 of the Law on payment services and payment systems and 
Ordinance No. 16 of the BNB of 29 March 2018. 

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provide payment services in Bulgaria without a branch into settlement finality systems that process 

card-based  payment  transactions  and  perform  net  settlement  in  RINGS  should  not  be  prohibited 

and non-discrimination of the payment system participants should be ensured. 

2.2  The  ECB  moreover  understands  that  the  same  restriction  aims  to  support  the  transposition  of 

Directive  (EU)  2015/2366  into  national  law  with  a  view  to  reinforcing  the  protection  of  consumers 

from  potential  additional  charges  stemming  from  unexpected  currency  conversions  related  to  the 

processing  of  card-based  payment  transactions  mentioned  in  paragraph  1.5.  In  this  regard,  the 

ECB  notes  that  Directive  (EU)  2015/2366  already  contains  rules  on  currency  conversion  and 
information  on  charges11,  which  the  ECB  understands  were  already  transposed  by  the  Law  on 
payment services and payment systems12. 

2.2  Although  credit  institutions  (alongside  payment  institutions  and  electronic  money  institutions)  are 

considered  payment  services  providers  for  the  purposes  of  the  Law  on  payment  services  and 
payment  systems13,  the  ECB  understands  that  acquisitions  of  shares  or  voting  rights  in  credit 

institutions by any person will fall outside the scope of the notification requirement as laid down in 

the  draft  law  regarding  the  acquisition  of  a  certain  shareholding  in  payment  institutions  and 
electronic money institutions14. Such acquisitions of shares or voting rights in credit institutions are 
already regulated in the Bulgarian Law on credit institutions15. 

2.3  Finally, the ECB understands that the proposed amendment regarding the charges for cross-border 

payments in euro within the Union is intended to avoid any possible conflicts between the existing 

Law on payment services and payment systems and Regulation (EC) No 924/2009 as amended by 
Regulation (EU) 2019/51816. 

This opinion will be published on the ECB’s website.  

Done at Frankfurt am Main, 17 December 2019. 

[signed] 

The President of the ECB 

Christine LAGARDE  

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Articles 59 and 60 of Directive (EU) 2015/2366. 
Articles 50 and 51 of the Law on payment services and payment systems. 

See  Article  3(1)  of  the  Law  on  payment  services  and  payment  systems,  which  distinguishes  between  different 
payment services providers for the purposes of the law, namely (i) banks within the meaning  of the Law on Credit 
Institutions;  (ii)  electronic  money  institutions  within  the  meaning  of  that  law;  (iii)  payment  institutions  within  the 
meaning  of  this  Law;  (iv)  account  information  service  providers  within  the  meaning  of  that  law;  (v)  the  European 
Central  Bank  and  the  national  central  banks  of  Member  States,  when  not  acting  in  their  capacity  as  monetary 
authorities or other public authorities. 

Proposed new Articles 14a and 44a of the Law on payment services and payment systems. 
Article 32 of the Law on credit institutions. 
Regulation (EC) No 924/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 September 2009 on cross-border 
payments in the Community and repealing Regulation (EC) No 2560/2001 (OJ L 266, 9.10.2009, p. 11). 

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